May 21, 2018

Dear Family and friends,

Things are starting to feel real with only 12 weeks left til i get home. Time is slipping like sand through my fingers, and I am fighting to be present in the moment right up until the end.

This past week I got shipped off to the middle of nowhere presumably for the last time. I might move again for my last six weeks, but I don't think I will.

The area is green green green, and there's about as many cows as people. Its in a little weird town called yelm, and it consists of a few main stoplights and a whole lot of booney roads. When we knock during dinner hours we have a lot more walking between house to house than I am used to, since my last area we knocked apartment complexes all day every day. It's a culture shock for sure, with a lot more southern hospitality than the city life. (Even though I'm in Washington, haha)

This is the perfect place to finish my mission, and the way I prefer it to end honestly. It's nice to be able to start fresh again in a totally new place with new faces and new people, and turn a new page. Most of them don't know I'm going home soon, and that's the way I want it.

Im happy to just keep my head down and work till it's done. Because when it comes down to it, I'm not here because of anyone else -- I'm here because this is where the Lord called me to be. I don't need the world's recognition. That's not why I am serving a mission. (And believe me, you definitely don't get any kind of recognition for wearing your tag every day. It's a fight to the finish!)

No, I came out here because God asked me to. And even though sometimes it still feels tough when you don't feel accepted by others, the one person who has always understood and always will, is the Lord. He has our back.

So don't need to worry about anything. Trust him, and know that He is with you, and that is what matters.

As a sons and daughters of God, we don't face the world. We face Him. And therein lies the greatest comfort consolation and peace. His is the only opinion I care about, and I know it is the same with you.

The church is true, God loves each and everyone of us. Stay on the path. Choose the right. And if you do that. Nothing else matters. Hang in there, you guys!

I love you. God loves you. Stay strong. And remember that through Him all things are possible.

Have the best week!

Elder hakala

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

~Philippians 4:13